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Episode 5 – Part 2: Betsy – Taking the Shrapnel Out of Girl

Betsy and her husband, Tom, had been living in Cairo, Egypt for almost two years when Betsy’s parents made their first trip overseas to experience her life in the Middle East.

On April 24, 2006, Betsy, Tom, and Betsy’s parents, arrived in Dahab, a small resort town situated on the Red Sea in the Sinai Peninsula. As they walked along the boardwalk in search of supper three terrorist bombs went off.

Part 2 of Betsy’s story is the story of the bombing – the anger, the chaos, the pain, the terror, the grief, the recovery, the healing, and ultimately, the forgiveness.

“While the mind’s strength is speed and processing, the heart’s is depth. And in those fateful moments as the blast overtook us, as my brain tried to process everything that was happening (sights, sounds, smells, feeling and pain) -my heart struggled to capture all the complexities that each millisecond held; the sorrow betrayal and grief that attached itself to each piece of shrapnel that cut through my body.” -an entry from Betsy’s journal in 2006

Please note: Due to the graphic and raw emotional nature of this content, this episode is not safe for work or for children.

You can click the map to enlarge. Sharm el-Sheikh is on the southeastern tip of the peninsula. Dahab (or Dhahab as it is spelled on the map) is north of Sharm el-Sheikh on the Red Sea. Map courtesy of the University of Texas at Austin (public domain).

4 thoughts on “Episode 5 – Part 2: Betsy – Taking the Shrapnel Out of Girl”

OMG, what a story. Betsy is an amazing young woman obviously from a strong family. They are lucky to be alive and able to share this awful, yet loving, experience. Thanks to all for sharing this story.

Thank you, once again, for listening, Gaelyn. Betsy is truly one of the most amazing people I know. I’m really proud of how this episode came out due in large part to Betsy’s willingness to open up and share some of the hardest parts of this story.

I was so memorized by her tragic story. It sounds like this woman lost a lot due to some very misguided people trying to make a statement. I am sure she lives with some physical pain that she keeps to herself and her emotional scars run deep in addition to it ripping her marriage apart. I feel for this young lady but I hope her emotional scars are beginning to heal and soon she finds love and traveling again 🙂